Degas’ bathers were revolutionary in their stylistic and conceptual approach to the female form, following a long tradition of nudes in Western art history. Degas strips them of the recognizable characteristics of sensuality, which are even more glaring in their absence, because the women do not seek invite the viewers attention and are not surrounded by props that enhance their seductive qualities. Instead, Degas chooses to depict bathing as an ordinary activity, where the viewer is “looking through the keyhole.” Ironically, he was often accused of misogyny because he didn’t give women the sex appeal they were used to. Although his bathers exhibit a highly personal style and an innovative compositional sense, Degas took his inspiration from a wide variety of sources, including the realistic lines of Ingres, japanese woodblock prints, and the emerging art of photography.

Suzuki Kiitsu’s gilded folding screen comes from the Rinpa school tradition that emerged during Edo Japan, seeking to revive the traditional painting style of earlier times. Many Rinpa artists were also involved in the textile industry, so their work has a highly decorative quality that could be applied to an emerging mass market. The Rinpa school was never closely united and continued to extend to the 19th century, when Kiitsu developed an even more stylized approach.

Degas depicted his dancers practicing, stretching, resting, talking, but rarely performing. In that sense, by capturing the point of view of the dancers themselves, he not only explored new techniques and compositions, but he was part of a movement that sought new ways of thinking about art itself. Perhaps he identified with the ballet dancer who spends long hours in the studio, because it mirrored the classical training he received in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, with the meticulous lines of Ingres serving as constant inspiration. However, he experimented with the quality of his lines, such as making contrasts between the endless edge of the tutu and the hard wood of the chair, or placing bold touches of color in subtle places. This intimate connection with the atmosphere the dancers lived in appears in the care with which every brushstroke was applied, giving his work a luminous and almost ethereal quality. He was both the flaneur, the casual observer, and dancer himself when he painted.

He achieved this delicate balance through the variety of viewpoints and compositions, which contributed to the sense that his paintings were snapshots of daily life. He drew inspiration not only from the bourgeois culture of Paris at the time, but also from Japanese woodblock prints that were beginning to fascinate European artists.  These prints undoubtedly influenced his sense of composition, where the intentional cropping, combined with his refined understanding of perspective, illustrated and transcended the everyday.
More about Degas’ dancers